Many care home residents who have contracted coronavirus have not needed hospital treatment and have recovered, a Powys Council health meeting heard.

In a discussion of the impact of coronavirus by the authority's health and care scrutiny committee, queries were raised about the treatment of elderly people in care homes.

Councillor Gareth Jones (Liberal Democrat – Llanidloes), queried the process for dealing with the virus in care homes.

Addressing the council's corporate director of social services, Ali Bulman, he said: “It’s amazing how many elderly people have successfully overcome the illness, presumably they return to a care home?

“What sort of risk does that create as far as other residents are concerned?”

Ms Bulman said that “a lot” of care home residents who had the illness, had not needed to be treated in hospital and had recovered.

“That’s positive,” she said.

Ms Bulman explained that procedures had also changed, with patients now being tested for coronavirus infection when being discharged from a district general hospital.

If the test was positive, they could be isolated in a community hospital.

If negative they could return to a care home, but would be looked after in semi-isolation to protect other residents.

According to Office for National Statistics data, 84 people in Powys have died with suspected coronavirus, of whom 45 have died in care homes.